Also:

After a major fire badly damaged a home in Boston, the family dog, Lola, could not be found. Her owners assumed she had either run away or been killed in the fire.

But when one of her owners went back to the home yesterday, she made an amazing find: …she actually heard this scratching from behind the door and she related to us that she had to break down the door, and she discovered Lola there. So Lola had been living in this locked property for about a month, Brian Adams, of the MSPCA, said in a report on WHDH.

She rushed the long-haired dachshund to the vet, where she’s getting hydration and other care for her woes. Amazingly, Lola may be going to her new home as early as today. There was no word from Lola’s owner in the report, but we can only imagine she was overjoyed. *see update, below

How did Lola survive? Would your dog be able to survive if something happened and he were left alone in your house for a week or two or a month? I guess that’s why I’ve heard people say to always leave the toilet lid up, since it’s a ready source of water. (And many a dog’s dream of the best tasting water in the house.) I wish Lola could divulge her survival secrets. Please share your contingency plans, or your ideas for how your dog could get by in a similar situation.

Here’s to a speedy recovery — both physical and mental — from Lola’s terrible ordeal!

Update March 23 12:30 a.m. – We received a comment from someone who knows Lola’s owner’s situation. It’s in the Comments section, but it’s important to move it up, because some people have wondered why Lola’s owner didn’t show up sooner, or try harder. Here’s what the commenter wrote:

They looked, and they looked, and they went back repeatedly. The owner wasn’t home when the fire started. Firefighters went through the house after the fire, but didn’t find the dog, so it was assumed that either she had been killed in the fire, or that she had gotten out and was wandering the neighborhood. Consequently, the search focused on the neighborhood, not the condemned, burnt-out building that had already been searched. You can read more details of the search that followed here.

Indeed, I checked out the story, and it’s worth reading if you want to see what the owner — and the dog — went through during this terrible ordeal. If you have any more doubts about the owner’s caring, maybe her words will help: I couldnt believe my eyes when I saw her after all that time, Lola’s owner, Terisa Acevedo, told the Boston Globe. I hugged Lola in my arms, and I cried and cried. I cried more than I did when I was standing in front of my house watching it burn down.